Clayton Kershaw insisted all week that his right hip wasn’t bothering him. Even after he gutted out a no-decision in Cincinnati six days ago, and did his normal between-starts pitching exercises, Kershaw’s pitch-at-all-costs nature and recent medical history were hard to ignore.

Kershaw erased any lingering doubts about his health with a masterful performance Friday. The left-hander tossed eight shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies and the Dodgers won 8-0 in front of an announced crowd of 37,133 at Dodger Stadium.

The question is: Will it matter?

“I’m just realistic,” Kershaw said. “We’re three games back with five games to go. We’ve got to win out. We can’t really worry about St. Louis. We’re watching (the scoreboard). If anybody says they’re not, they’re lying.”

The right-field scoreboard showed the Cardinals leading the Washington Nationals 9-1 when the Dodgers took the field. St. Louis ultimately won 12-2 and pushed the Dodgers closer to elimination in the race for the National League’s second wild-card berth; the website sportsclubstats.com puts the probability of a Dodgers playoff miracle at 3.3 percent.

For those still holding out hope, the Dodgers are suddenly, belatedly looking dangerous. They have won three consecutive games by a combined 24-6 score. Their best hitters are hitting, their best pitcher is pitching and even their reserves are doing things they’ve never done before. Bobby Abreu’s two-run home run in the eighth inning was the first pinch-hit homer of his career – in his 2,344 th game.

Kershaw (13-9) allowed five hits, walked two and struck out 10 in eight innings – only the third time this season he’s struck out 10 batters and the first time he has done so while not allowing a run.

His last start came on 11 days’ rest. This one came on regular rest and it seemed to make a big difference: Kershaw threw a 94-mph fastball on his first pitch of the game and a 95-mph fastball on his last pitch – in his 219 th inning of the season.

“I got some good work in between starts,” Kershaw said. “Just being on a regular routine helps. I felt like I’d be able to command the ball better.”

Josh Wall pitched a scoreless ninth inning to complete the shutout, the Dodgers’ first since Aug. 19 in Atlanta. Andre Ethier went 3 for 4, and Shane Victorino, A.J. Ellis and Mark Ellis each had two of the Dodgers’ 12 hits.

Victorino’s three-run home run highlighted a four-run second inning against Rockies starter Jeff Francis (5-7).

With runners on first and second, Ethier dumped an RBI double over the head of Colorado third baseman Chris Nelson into shallow left field to start the scoring. The next batter, Victorino, crushed a belt-high Francis fastball over the left-center field fence. It was Victorino’s 11 th home run of the season and just his second as a Dodger.

Ethier, who has historically struggled against left-handers, was dropped from second to sixth in favor of Luis Cruz against the lefty Francis. Victorino was batting seventh because he had been bothered by a sore left hand that limited him to two games in the past week.

Both moves worked. The past three games, they all have.

“We had a lot of hard-hit balls tonight,” Kershaw said. “We could’ve had more than eight (runs) tonight.”

The Rockies, cellar-dwellers in the National League West since July 17, had won their previous four games, but the Dodgers have reason to get their hopes up this series.

Today’s starter, Redlands native and ex-Angels pitcher Tyler Chatwood, actually has a worse earned-run average away from Coors Field this season than at home (6.07 compared to 4.94). Sunday, the Rockies will give the ball to veteran Jorge De La Rosa, who has been hit hard in two starts after spending all season on the disabled list because of elbow surgery.

Of course, every reason to hope is tempered by the Dodgers’ place in the standings.

“St. Louis does their part, there’s nothing we can do,” Mark Ellis said.

The Cardinals’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth is three. The Dodgers would like to do what St. Louis did last year – win four of their final five games, catch the team ahead of them for a playoff coup, then go on to win the World Series.

Unless the Cardinals lose at least four games – they have two more in Washington then three in Cincinnati – that won’t be enough.